The way that Mickey Callaway had been talking, you kind of expected Anthony Swarzak to be wearing a superhero cape when he finally returned. For two months, the Mets had bemoaned how the strained left oblique that had put Swarzak on the disabled list since April 2 had messed up all their plans with the bullpen. Callaway’s plan for an unconventional no-roles bullpen with usage determined by leverage was scrapped because of Swarzak’s lingering side issue. The bullpen’s heavy usage was pinned on the fact that the right-hander they signed to a two-year, $14 million deal this winter was hurt.

So on Tuesday when Swarzak returned from his hurried rehab assignment, the expectations were high. The 32-year-old journeyman said he was excited to take on that pressure before pitching a scoreless ninth in the Mets 2-1 loss to the Orioles at Citi Field.

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“I talked to Mickey a little today,” Swarzak said before the game. “We talked a little about what to expect. I think we are both excited for me to be here and take the pressure off the other guys.”

Pressure on the bullpen and Callaway had reached enormous levels while Swarzak was dealing with his lingering side muscle issue. The Mets bullpen went into Tuesday night’s interleague series opener leading the majors with 16 losses, and sported the fifth-worst ERA (4.62). They also owned the second-worst WHIP in the National League (1.42), had given up the fifth-most home runs (30) and issued the sixth-most walks (95).

Heavy use in high-leverage situations, particularly early on when the Mets were winning, played into that. Robert Gsellman went into Tuesday night’s game having pitched 35.2 innings, the second-most in the NL. AJ Ramos, who is now on the DL with shoulder tendinitis, had made 28 appearances. Jeurys Familia had 27 appearances and was sixth in the majors in saves and tied for the most blown saves (4) in the big leagues.

Over the last month, plans that had Ramos and lefty specialist Jerry Blevins sharing the high-leverage innings with Familia have fallen apart. Callaway has clearly lost confidence in Belvins, who lefties are hitting .324 off of, and Ramos, who has walked 15 and allowed 14 earned runs in 19.2 innings pitched. Callaway was already turning to Gsellman as the setup man before Ramos was injured.

And there are signs that Familia has lost a little of Callaway’s trust as well. Familia was used to set up Gsellman in Atlanta last week, a move that Callaway explained because it was against the heart of the Braves lineup, but was never explained to the closer.

So Swarzak’s return was important for Callaway, especially coming as the bullpen had taken nine losses in the last 12 games -- something the Mets bullpen hadn’t done in nearly 30 years.

After all, Swarzak is here because of Callaway.

After a middling career for eight years, Swarzak credits working with Callaway briefly in 2015 in Cleveland for helping him reinvent himself. Then Cleveland's pitching coach, Callaway told him to get in better shape and dedicate himself to routines in between outings.

Swarzak had pitched to a 4.22 ERA with a 1.39 WHIP over eight seasons in his career, but 2017 was a breakout year for him. He was able to increase his velocity after getting in better shape and also cut down his arsenal to four-seam fastballs and sliders. As a result, he pitched to an impressive 2.33 ERA in 77.1 innings over 70 appearances last season between the Brewers and White Sox. He recorded 91 strikeouts for a 10.6 strikeout-per-nine rate in 2017, the most effective mark of his career.

After missing out on Brian Shaw, who signed for more with the Rockies, and Tommy Hunter, who signed with the Phillies, the Mets gave Swarzak a two-year, $14 million deal to steady the backend of their bullpen.

On Tuesday night, with the Mets on a four-game losing streak, but coming off a day off, Callaway was just happy to have another big league arm.

“I’d like to ease him in, but I think we need to use, see who is available on given night. Good thing now we finally have some of our guys back, we have (Seth) Lugo and Gsellman ready to go. We have (Paul) Sewald available. We have almost everybody in the pen finally available after that (Memorial Day) doubleheader and everything that messed us up,” Callaway said. . “We’ll have to see what the situations are. I’d like to ease him in a tad. We’ll see what we need to do, we’ll do whatever we need to do to win.”

Swarzak missed the majority of spring training with a calf issue, and after months of waiting for the oblique issue to heal enough to basically start a completely new spring training regiment, he had a hurried rehab. Swarzak pitched every other day last week, three appearances total before being activated Tuesday. He was 2-0 with a 10.13 ERA with three earned runs in 2.2 innings pitched.